Trials and Tribulations of Sabbbatical- Ari

Ari Day #46

Chipangali Wildlife Orphanage, Zimbabwe

5-1-2022

I’m sitting here in a metal chair outside our “chalet” at Chipangali with my fleece on, wool hat, and long pants—and I’m still cold—that is unexpected. This whole trip, I’ve been worried about being too hot in Africa. Little did I know…

Today was a half day of work and tomorrow we have off, mirroring the typical Chipangali week for the workers: 5.5 days on, 1.5 days off. However, not much work was happening around here (other than Asher who represented the Ballonoff clan by cleaning out all the carnivore’s cages entailing removing all the old carcasses and bones, something Asher somehow can do while the rest of us are repulsed by the scent of rotting flesh). I went with Ryan, Vince, and Cerah to retrieve the 2 crocodiles that were at the exhibition in Bulawayo. Interestingly, the Zimbabwe government requires them to donate their animals to the exhibition, and Chipangali has to provide the transportation and the animals without question—so much corruption here. It was challenging fishing the 70 pound crocs out of the small pool in the small enclosure, but we eventually got them. Carrying them is quite an experience.

Unfortunately, Linden joined the ranks of the rest of us in Club Vomit. Yesterday evening after our day of work, she became nauseated and vomited 3 times. This was followed by stomach cramps and diarrhea this morning, so she is on the tried and true Ballonoff Sabbatical cocktail of Phenergan, Azithromycin, Tinidazole, and Loperamide. Unfortunately, she is still feeling pukey and has been in bed the majority of the day. Her positive attitude, strength, and resilience during the last 24 hours has been quite inspiring for me. In between vomiting episodes, she oftentimes smiles and even laughs at the absurdity of our situation in the middle of Africa working in an animal orphanage. It’s times like these that makes me want to be home in the comfort of our own house with consistent electricity, clean water from the tap, clean clothes out of a washing machine, clean and fresh food in our own refrigerator, hot showers, and a warm and fuzzy husky to snuggle with.

Speaking of being impressed by my children, Asher has been battling one heck of a cold for the last 3 days that he caught from me and Cris. Having a cold on top of the other discomforts of travelling in a third world country is challenging to say the least. We all know about the “man cold”, and most people with Y chromosomes are guilty of escalating the common cold into a medical crisis. Well, Asher has not done this and has weathered the storm of not being able to breathe at night, not being able to sleep, and not being able to taste, while continuing to work hard and keeping a great attitude. I wish I had had his resilience when I was battling my cold for the past week, which knocked me on my sorry butt.

So, needless to say, this trip is pushing us all to our limits. More appropriately, it has moved our limits so that we have more tolerance for what life may bring. Our days are filled with richness that I really feel may not be possible to experience in the comforts of our daily lives at home. Yet, at the end of the day, homesickness sets in. As my mom has always said—the best part of going on a trip is returning home. This sounds simple and obvious, and maybe even an argument against travelling, yet I’ve realized this is one of the primary reasons to travel—to realize what we have at home and to appreciate it every day we are there.

The last 2 nights, I walked around the orphanage at night (once with Cris and once with Linden), only to be greeted by a gorgeous and curious leopard, and serenated by 14 lions roaring in the darkness with glittering stars overhead patterned with unfamiliar southern hemisphere constellations. The magic of being in the presence of such majestic and powerful animals in the dark, alone, is indescribable. Asher and Linden helped transfer and clean the cages of the largest venomous snakes in the world yesterday. I carried a crocodile today. Every day, we play with Apollo, the spotted hyena, running together back and forth and giving him sticks. We helped transfer a brown hyena into his larger enclosure. Asher has retrieved 2 dead cows. A somango monkey grabbed my butt. We have daily and nightly conversations with the Israelis, Canadians, and Zimbabwans about the stark differences and many similarities we have as individuals and in our societies. Twice, Dash, the biggest male lion has grunted to me and promptly leaned up against the cage so that I would scratch his giant mane. Every day we take care of the nursery animals including Jasper the vervet monkey, Mo the bird, Rainy the steinbuck, Puppy the squirrel, the dozen ducklings, Hedge the hedgehog, Jeckel the Bush Baby, and we say hi to countless other animals. Linden held a large python yesterday. I run in a game park with daikas and zebras. The sunsets are a stunning rust orange, something I have never seen anywhere other than Africa. We work alongside Zimbabwans who are gentle and kind, sharing with us their reality of living here. So…needless to say, these experiences are ones that cannot be replicated anywhere but here. Who knows how these will affect us and our perception of the world around us, but I can only believe it will provide us with a perspective that will serve us well for our lifetimes.